containment

Open fronted ventilated enclosures are commonly used in industry to control worker exposure to a wide range of chemicals. These enclosures tend to be of basic design and often consist of nothing more than a box like structure with an open front to allow worker access and extraction at the rear to remove contaminated air. This design forces the worker to stand at the face of the enclosure and by doing so presents a blockage to the airflow.

A three dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFO) analysis has been used to predict airflow patterns in laboratory fume hoods. The simulation includes bypass fume hood primary operational features including the top and bottom bypasses, front airfoils, and rear slotted baffles. The study included the effects on the fume hood airflow of sash height changes, an operator positioned outside the fume hood, and equipment within the main fume hood chamber.